The Hanoi city government has ordered a halt to all housing projects intended for use by state officers after many previous projects have been taken advantage of, news website VnExpress said Thursday.

Concerned authorities have been asked to check all approved projects by the end of this month and suggest a stop to those that are behind schedule.

Hanoi Department of Construction was asked to check and report by the end of October all the cases in which the land and houses were used for other purposes.

Figures from the department showed that the city is employing more than 355,000 state officers, including 202,000 at central government agencies. Most of them work in the capital downtown and live in very small houses.

In early 2011, the Construction Department proposed a plan to build houses to sell or rent to the workers.